Personal Financial Advisors in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,609
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$25,591
24.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$81,650
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$105,200
Kept after tax
$79,609
Worth in national money
$81,650
State rank
13
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Pennsylvania pays personal financial advisors a middle wage of $105,200, ranking 13 of 49 states and sitting about 0.12% above the national middle.
- Within Pennsylvania this is well-paid work. Of 492 occupations with published figures in the state, personal financial advisors ranks 43 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- No great distortion either way. Pennsylvania costs about what the country costs, so from $105,200, take-home of $79,609 is worth roughly $81,650 in national money. The average comes to $165,100, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Pennsylvania's median for personal financial advisors is $105,200, about 0.12% above the national figure and 13 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Ranked against every occupation Pennsylvania publishes a median for, personal financial advisors sits 43 of 492 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Price parity in Pennsylvania is near the national base, so for personal financial advisors, whose median is $105,200, the adjusted figure of $81,650 differs little from $79,609 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $165,100 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Personal Financial Advisors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $105,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $392,900 |
| This salary | $105,200 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Pennsylvania | $79,609 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,838 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,597 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $100,609 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,968 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of personal financial advisors in Pennsylvania earn under $105,200 and half over. The published range runs $59,960 at the tenth percentile to $392,900 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $79,609, worked from $105,200. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 43 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $81,650, the adjusted value of that $105,200 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 43 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for personal financial advisors in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $59,960 to $392,900; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $79,609, on $105,200 for work ranking 43 of 492 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 43 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $81,650 — the adjusted value of that $105,200 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 43 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $165,100 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $59,960 and the top tenth $392,900 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $81,650.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $79,609.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Pennsylvania is $165,100. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($59,960) and the ninetieth ($392,900) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $81,650 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $79,609 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.